Dementia and depression in elderly persons: Agecat compared with dsm III and pervasive illness

Abstract The computer diagnosis AGECAT applied to data from the Geriatric Mental State is shown to agree closely with cases of dementia and depression selected by the ‘pervasive illness’ (Gurland et al. , 1983) and DSM III methods (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). AGECAT selects more borderline cases of depression than either of the other two methods, but also designates two levels of mild or subcases for both depression and dementia.